Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Harp of Renfrewshire

393
O FAIR MOON
O moon ! pale moon ! say what hast thou seen
In the lands where latest thy path hath been /
Hast thon skimmed o'er cities of high renown,
Or gazed on the faces of friends I have known V
The spirit of sleep is often with me
As I hold my journey o'er land and sea ;
And hushed is each city of high renown,
And mai-kets and forums are quiet and lone.
But all, not all, have this spirit of sleep :
There are some who watch, there are some who weep.
There are some who work, there are some who pray
In the silence of night as in the day.
I've lingered o'er graves of the lowly dead,
I've peered into vaults where the rich are laid,
I've peeped in at windows of minsters old,
And silvered each fluting and carving and mould.
I've loitered by chambers where children prayed,
A mother's hand on their young heads laid ;
I've toyed with the ivy o'er cottages grown,
I've made wan-like and weii'd-like each leaf and stone
I've brightened the face of the watch at sea, —
He thought of his home as he gazed on me,
Of the cairn and the loch, of the mountain and dell.
And the voice of the maiden he loved so well.